Trump's first month as president reviewed

A series of controversial executive orders have shocked Trump's opponents while thrilling his supportersCredit:
China Daily

28 February 2017 • 9:30am

Donald Trump's first month as president of the United States of America has been eventful to say the least. China Watch reviews his term so far.

Editor’s note

Dominating the front pages of all major news outlets, Donald Trump has never failed to “surprise” from the very moment he took over the White House. Over the past month, the former real estate mogul has sought to act to show the whole world that he is a man of his word. What he had promised during the campaign, he really meant. Build a wall? Yes! Ban Muslims? Why not?

A series of controversial executive orders that shocked opponents while thrilling his supporters, triggered worldwide anxiety. Many people were left wondering how far this unpredictable man will take America.

Swearing to overturn all the political legacies of his predecessor – Obamacare, the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), the Iran nuclear deal, you name it – Trump abandoned political correctness and planned to build a country based on one key principle, “America first”, which seems to perfectly explain his governing style. We have picked some of his biggest moves, which could reshape the US for at least four years.

Obamacare getting pushed out the door

Just hours after his inauguration on 20 January, Trump signed his first executive order, directing federal agencies to “ease the burden” of his predecessor Barack Obama’s healthcare law, known as Obamacare. The order, without mentioning any specific actions, gives broad authority to the Department of Health and Human Services to ease the regulatory requirements of the legislation.

Trump has directed federal agencies to ‘ease the burden’ of ObamacareCredit:
China Daily

The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), dubbed Obamacare, has considerably helped reduce the number of people without medical insurance coverage. However, at the heart of the act lies the individual mandate that since 2014 requires every US citizen to take out health insurance or be subject to a fine.

In a recent interview with a Fox News reporter, Trump gave a timetable for a replacement of the ACA, saying the new plan could take “till sometime into next year”. During his campaign, Trump raised a series of measures to repeal Obamacare, including the promotion of tax-free health saving accounts and the deduction of premiums on personal income tax returns. He also considered allowing insurers to sell policies across state lines to boost competition.

Taking the US out of the TPP

Trump signed another executive order on 23 January, to withdraw the US from the TPP, a trade agreement that Obama had hoped to become his legacy. The new administration insists that the US will gain more from a bilateral trade agreement than a multilateral one.

Trump has signed an executive order to withdraw the United States from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)Credit:
China Daily

The TPP was signed in February last year by the US and 11 other Pacific Rim economies, not including China. The withdrawal from the TPP is widely seen as Trump’s departure from Obama’s “pivot to Asia” strategy. During Trump’s meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on 10 February, the US president said Washington would seek to promote a “fair and reciprocal” trade relationship with Tokyo, which is a strong advocate of the TPP.

In response to the executive order, China said it would further promote the negotiation of its two trade arrangements in the Asia-Pacific region, namely the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP).

Economy versus environment: actions to advance pipelines

On 24 January Trump gave the green light for two controversial pipeline projects, the Keystone XL and Dakota Access, that had been delayed by his predecessor Obama for environmental concerns.

Trump has given the green light for two controversial pipeline projectsCredit:
China Daily

While both orders are subject to renegotiation, Trump said they would put a lot of steelworkers back to work. The oil industry applauded the move, while Democrats and environmentalists strongly opposed the orders. “The Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipelines would be a disaster for the land and water, the rights of indigenous peoples and the climate,” environmentalists said in a statement.

Backers of the project say it will reduce US reliance on oil from the Middle East and allow the country to fulfil its energy needs from one of its closest allies.

Obama stalled construction on the KXL pipeline for years before finally rejecting the project outright in late 2015, declaring it would have undercut US efforts to clinch a global climate change deal.

Both projects could still face challenges, as the Keystone XL pipeline requires state approval, and Trump has less room to manoeuvre on the Dakota Access pipeline. Lawyers warn that the fights to come could mire Trump in court battles lasting years over regulatory law.

Bold moves on immigration control

Trump moved aggressively to tighten America’s immigration controls on 24 January, signing executive orders to jump-start construction of a US-Mexico border wall and cut federal grants from “immigrant-protecting” sanctuary cities, sparking both applause and outrage throughout the nation.

A 2006 law gives Trump the authority to proceed with construction, but the administration will have to adhere to a 1970 treaty barring structures that disrupt the flow of rivers across the border. Moreover, Trump will need billions of dollars from Congress since Mexico insists it will not pay for the wall.

The order to cut sanctuary funds would allow Washington to withhold federal funds from “sanctuary cities” that refuse to co-operate with federal enforcement efforts against undocumented immigrants that have fallen into the criminal justice system. Some of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, are considered sanctuary cities.

Immigration authorities are asking local jurisdictions to detain immigrants living in the US illegally. However, federal courts have found that local jurisdictions cannot hold immigrants beyond their jail term or deny them bail, or the payment to be released early from jail, simply because of these requests.

The two orders were heavy on direction but sometimes short on detail about how they might be executed. Funding constraints and legal battles are likely to place limits on those plans.

Trouble in paradise: travel ban turmoil

In 2015, Trump as a presidential front-runner stunned the world with a proposal to ban Muslims from entering the US. While it was truly mind-blowing, back then no one took it as more than another attention-seeking politician’s bluff, a trick often seen in campaigns – except that Trump was not a politician but a rookie.

Just seven days after his inauguration, Trump announced a temporary suspension of travel from seven Muslim-majority countriesCredit:
China Daily

And no one would have believed he could win. But he did. And he transformed his campaign rhetoric into a signed executive order.

Just seven days after his inauguration, Trump announced the temporary suspension of travel from seven Muslim-majority countries – Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen – for 90 days and keep refugees out of the US for 120 days.

The announcement triggered chaos and confusion, disrupting travel plans, tearing apart families at airports, prompting activists to protest worldwide, with legal battles across the US, and fuelling a war of words between the US judiciary and the White House.

Even America’s allies in Europe frowned. British Prime Minister Theresa May and German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed their disagreements.

Amid pressure, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly issued waivers from the ban for permanent residents, or green card holders, on 29 January, only two days after the order.

This measure, however, did not settle the legal challenges, which came to a new level when Trump fired the defiant acting US attorney-general Sally Yates after the top law enforcement official told Justice Department lawyers not to defend the travel ban.

On 30 January, Washington became the first state to sue the Trump administration, with another four to follow.

The ban was in disarray after a federal judge in Seattle temporarily restrained the executive order on 3 February, allowing all travel to the US to resume.

The Justice Department, still in line with the administration, then resorted to an appeal court for an emergency ruling, aiming to overturn the Seattle judge’s decision.

Some peace followed on 9 February after the San Francisco appeals court ruled against the ban and declined to block the Seattle judge’s injunction on the presidential order.

Trump took to Twitter to vent his anger with “See you in court!”

Surprising structuring for top security councils

On 28 January, Trump issued National Security Presidential Memorandum (NSPM) 2, a document outlining how he intends to organise and use his National Security Council (and Homeland Security Council) to develop, co-ordinate and implement national security policy.

For the first time in history, a president's chief political strategist will attend any meeting of the National Security CouncilCredit:
China Daily

The executive order elevates Trump’s controversial adviser Stephen Bannon to the National Security Council (NSC), the main forum for discussion of high-security and foreign policy issues.

For the first time, a president’s chief political strategist will be invited to attend any meeting of the National Security Council and will be a regular member of the highly influential Principals Committee (PC).

At the same time, the order also shifts the role of the Director of National Intelligence and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (the highest-ranking military officer in the US), who will now only attend meetings “where issues pertaining to their responsibilities and expertise are to be discussed”.

White House officials strongly denied that this meant a demotion for the top US general.

The announcement elicited shock from both Democrats and Republicans, with influential veteran senator John McCain calling Bannon’s appointment “a radical departure from any National Security Council in history”.

A plan within 30 days to defeat Islamic State

Trump signed an executive order on 28 January requesting that the Pentagon, Joint Chiefs of Staff and other agencies compile a plan within 30 days to defeat Islamic State.

As a result, the Pentagon is likely to revisit options for a more aggressive use of its firepower and troops.

Any shifts by the US military would have broad repercussions for America’s relationships across the Middle East, which were strained by Obama’s efforts throughout his administration to limit his country’s military involvement in Iraq and Syria.

Trump’s Defence Secretary James Mattis has advocated a more forceful approach against Islamic State, but how he will pursue that remains unclear.

US military officials have long acknowledged that America could defeat Islamic State more quickly by using its own forces, instead of local fighters, on the battlefield.

But US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, doubt the country’s military will advocate fundamentally changing this key strategy from the Obama administration of relying on local forces to do most of the fighting, and dying, in Syria and Iraq.

A key theme of Trump’s electoral campaign was to defeat Islamic State. He pledged to eradicate it, as one of his top priorities, in his inaugural speech.

Sanctions on Iran

The Trump administration imposed sanctions on Iran on 3 February, saying these were just “initial steps” and that Washington would no longer turn a “blind eye” to Tehran’s hostile actions.

Trump called the Iran nuclear deal a ‘disaster’Credit:
China Daily

The sanctions on 25 individuals and entities were the opening salvo by Trump, who had vowed a more aggressive policy against Tehran. They came two days after the administration had put Iran “on notice” after a ballistic missile test.

During the election campaign, Trump called the deal that six world powers – including the US under Obama – struck with Iran to curb its nuclear programme in return for an end to multilateral sanctions a “disaster” and “the worst deal ever negotiated”. But he has also said it would be hard to overturn an agreement enshrined in a UN resolution.